I love sports. I especially love the big games – the playoffs and the championship events. How ‘bout them Redbirds! The Yankees pulled it off after a season of dead heat with the Orioles. More good games to come! And, I love the “more to the story” details the sportscasters share. I love hearing that something I just saw has never been done, or not since 1943.

I love to play games and I so appreciate when someone is on top of theirs. If you have ever skied, you understand how amazing Lindsey Vonn is. If you have ever played tennis, your job drops when Roger Federer hits a backhand shot. It’s that swing, that turn, that arc, that moment of perfection…and time stands still. Goosebumps. Joy! Every now and then you watch one, and it’s enough to keep you interested until the next one. […]

I have a big, noisy, fun family. Growing up, we lived around the corner from the McCartheys, a family with a set of kids that matched ours. So, we hung out together. Not all together. The big kids hung together. The middle kids hung together. And the youngest kids, my group, wished we could hang with the big and middle kids.

Once in a blue moon, we would all play together. We played only one game and only under absolutely perfect conditions. The game: Football. The conditions…There had to be snow on the ground, at least one foot deep and less than 24 hours old. It had to be COLD. It had to be nighttime. We had to have at least a dozen, preferably three dozen, players. The big kids had to play. It wouldn’t work without big kid representation and leadership. The middle kids and little kids wouldn’t dare suggest the game. […]

While she was white-knuckle-scared as we walked to the top of the slide, Zoe experienced the pure joy of swooshing down at the speed of light (albeit slowed some by the burlap bag.) Isn’t it a blast to set a goal, face the fear, take the risk and GO?! Yes! From there, you can go on to bigger slides. Or, in Zoe’s case, the merry go round! Our trip to the amusement part was her personal Olympics 2012.

Competition is an essential element of humanity. Tipped too far it leads to war and oppression. Balanced just right and you get the Olympics. It’s the world playground where we get to face off, with ourselves, with others, with the clock, with the equipment. Or we get to watch in awe as others step up to the challenge.

There are so many business lessons, life lessons to be learned at the Olympics (or at the amusement park!) Set a goal. Any goal. Pick something. Then, take aligned action and see what you can do. Discover what it will make of you to commit to the goal. Business is like that. Set a goal. $50K. $1,000,000. 3 locations. 100 locations. Why not? Now, consider what you would have to do…today, tomorrow, next year…to make it happen. […]

You’re at a networking event. One by one everyone stands up and gives their elevator pitch. They’re going around the room, table by table. Pretty soon it’s your turn. Your heart starts beating fast. You break out in a sweat. You have one shot to let everyone in the room hear your pitch. What are you going to say? You’ve learned the formula for the elevator pitch and created a message that follows this template, but it’s really awkward to say and it has never attracted clients in the past.

When you go to networking events like this where you are asked to recite your pitch in front of everyone, what is painfully obvious is the majority of the elevator pitches sound the same. After 3-4 people stand up and give their pitch, you can’t remember who does what. If the goal of the elevator pitch is to attract clients, you want a pitch that people will remember. You want a clear and compelling message that resonates with your target audience.

You can have a professional sounding elevator pitch that clearly explains who you are, what you do, the name of your company, and how your product or service benefits your clients. However, very often the pitches that use this template fall flat for several reasons. […]

Do you have an underperformer? Dreading the confrontational conversation about his performance? Here’s a little Role Play video with ideas for being clear, gaining understanding and getting commitment to improved performance! Skip the pep talk. Help him WIN!

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"How thrilled I am to have found you! Fortunately, I was ble to hear you give a presentation for Office Depot. How inspirational! My goal is to help business owners understand their financial statements, and I am always looking for a better way to communicate with my clients. As I have read countless books in quest of more knowledge, your books win the prize. You are able to break things down into easy to understand, and relevant terms. Anyone who owns a business could benefit from reading your books, thank you so much for writing them!"